Combined package and dispenser



Jan. 25, 1944.

L. H. M. VINEBURGH COMBINED PACKAGE AND DISPENSER Fii'ed Nov. 12, 1940Ellie wan Patented Jan. 25, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINEDPAc szzl ND DISPENS ER Lawrence H. M. Vineburgh, Hartford, Conn.

Application November 12, 1940, Serial No. 365,342 1 Claim. (Gl. 206-56)cated of simple and available materials which will serve as a neatpackage for paper or sanitary disposable cups and which may be readilyconverted into a dispenser of a character which will dispense one cup ata time as needed while maintaining the remainder in clean and sanitarycondition.

It is another object of the invention to provide a combined transparentpackage and dis penser for paper or other sanitary disposable cups.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front view in elevation of a combined package and dispenserin accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a View similar to Fig. 1 with the cups in dispensing relationand with one of the cups substantially totally dispensed shown in dottedlines;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of' the device shown in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, the combined package and dispenser Illcomprises a body portion H which may be fabricated of sheet rubber,paper or other non-rigid or flexible material such as wax paper ortransparent flexible plastics. When the body portion H is made fromsheet mate rial, it may be rolled in the form of a tubeso that the edgesi2 and I3 overlap and maybe joined together by the utilization of cementor in any other suitable manner. When the material of the body portion His of rubber, the edges l2 and 13 may be vulcanized together or joinedby the use of rubber cement. When the material of the body portion l lis a thermo-plastic substance, heat and pressure may be utilized toefiect this seal.

The bottom portion I! of the body H is gathered, as shown at l5, andmeans [6 are provided for holding the bottom or dispensing portion ofthe package Ill in yieldable gathered relation.

Means l6 may take the form of elastic material of smaller dimension thanthe circumference of the body portion H and such elastic of smallerdimension may be cemented to the body portion I II at its lower portionl4. The turned over pertion I! adds a decorative touch and at leastpartially hides the elastic it of smaller dimension.'

The turned over portion i! also presents a fin-' ished reinforced edgeat the bottom l4 and serves to prevent tearing of the package as thecups -l8 are dispensed.-

- The stack S of cups 18 may be loaded withinthe combined package anddispenser I 0 either through the top or the bottom, and when they areloaded through the top, the cap [9 is sealedto the top portion 22:of'the dispenser l0 after the loading operation. The cap l9 may befabricated of rubber when the body portion II is rubber and the twovulcanized together or otherwise suitably joined to effect a finishedcombined package and dispenser. The cap l9 may be provided with a ring20' with which may be associ-' ated a decorative string 21 for suitablysupporting the combined package and dispenser on a wall whereby the cupsmay be dispensed by pulling the lowermost cup downwardly as shown bysolid and dotted lines in Fig. 2 at the bottom thereof. As the lowermostcup is pulled downwardly, the bottom portion I4 of the dispenser l0expands and permits the lowermost cup to be removed but catches the nextcup and thereby serves to support the stack S within the body portion Hpending withdrawal of the next cup.

When the device Ill serves as a package, the cups l8 are in the positionshown in Fig. 1 and are in non-dispensing relation with the elastic I6in contracted position. In this position, the cups are protected in asanitary manner by the combined package and dispenser l0 and no dust ordirt can contaminate the inner portions or the lip portions of the cups.When it is desired that the package serve as a dispenser, the cups I8are brought into the position shown in solid lines in Fig. 2 with theelastic means H5 in partially expanded position. As the cups l8 areremoved, the elastic I6 is stretched to fully expanded position, shownin dotted lines. The pressure of the elastic means on the sides I8a ofthe cups serves to push the sides toward each other and thereby increasethe transverse dimension of the interior of the cup being withdrawn sothat it detaches itself from the remainder of the stack, therebyfacilitating the dispensing action referred to.

In the operation described, it will be apparent stacked paper cups ofgenerally trapezoidal ele-. Further, the device vation and as adispenser. efficiently protects the cups from dustand dirt and is ofsuch portable nature that it may be carried in the glove compartment ofan automobile or in any other very small space andthen j hung on a treeor any other convenient support so that its use for picnics and the likeis desir-- able. Further the package is of such inexpensive nature thatit may be readily disposed of when the stack of cups therein have beenused and the user may be assured that the cups will be protected untilused.

Not only may the :body portion H of the package H) be made of opaquerubber and printed with decorative designs when desired, but it may bemade of relatively thin translucent rubber or' oiled silk or othermaterial which permits thetransfer of light therethrough so that thecups may be more or less visible to some extent when within the package.As the package I is relatively non-rigid, the user may also ascertainthe relative number of cups by the sense of touch.-

It is to be understood that it is within the scope of the invention toclose the top portion ZZ-of the package [0 in other ways than that shownand described and in fact that body portion II of thepackage may befabricated of one piece with the entire top portion integral and all thegathering occurring along the sides andbottom. When the device is sofabricated, a cap similar to the cap 19 may be secured to the integraltop in any suitable manner as described in order to provide forsupporting the package when it is to be used as a dispenser.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in this device without departing from the spirit of theinvention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown inthe drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated inthe appended claim.

. What is claimed is:

" A package-dispenser and cup-stack combination. comprising a nestedstack of cups located in a housing comprising an elongated body portionfabricated of normally relatively inelastic,

flaccidlimp, soft, thin walled material, the cross sectional dimensionof said body portion being suflici'ently large as compared to thelargest cross sectional dimension of the cups so as not to bind the saidcups and permit relatively free movement of the cups from the tops ofsaid body portion toward the bottom end of said body portion, saidbottom end which is normally open being formed with av gathered edge ofring like configuration and of smaller dimension than the transversesectional dimension of the body portion of the package, the said bottomedge being elasticized generally uniformly about its peripheryto permitthe passage of cups therethrough when a pulling force is exertedthereon, the edge of. said bottom end being sufiiciently elasticized soas to be strong enough to normally hold the cups within the package andfit snugly about the lower portion of the lowermost cup of which thebottom protrudes therethrough, the combined dispenser and cup stackbeing relatively rigid as compared. with the inelastic, flaccid, limp,soft, thin walled material of the package body.

LAWRENCE H. M. VINEBURGH.

